Corpse Metro
by jackkel dragon
Summary: When the missiles fell in 2013, the survivors lived by retreating into the metro systems of their cities and building underground bases. It is now 2033, and the Tenjin shelter faces a major threat to its survival in the form of an unkillable mutant with the body of a young child. Satoshi Mochida and his sister Yuka set out to find a way to save their shelter before it's too late.
1. Chapter 1

Satoshi stared into his drink. Even the mushroom "tea" in his glass couldn't calm him down right now.

Yuka, sat across from him, frowned and tapped the table to get his attention. "Hey, Satoshi. Why are you spacing out?"

Looking up with a bit of surprise, Satoshi realized that his sister had been watching him, her own drink untouched.

After a moment, Satoshi sighed and placed his head in his hands. "I'm just not sure what we're supposed to do."

Yuka scoffed and pulled out a notepad and slammed it on the table.

"Look, I wrote it down for you. 'Find the Perfect Life shelter. Ask how to stop the black-eyed girl.' It's pretty clear what we have to do."

Satoshi rubbed his face and shook his head. "I know what the mission is, but we have no idea where this shelter is. It could be a fairy tale. I mean, a whole underground city? That can't be true."

"Fairy tale or not, we're got to find it." Yuka tapped the notepad. "We can't let our shelter down, not after the last attack. The ordinary mutants might start to realize that the black-eyed girl is leaving us unable to fight back and try to wipe us out."

"I know that, but..."

Satoshi was interrupted by someone pulling over a chair and taking a seat next to him. When Satoshi turned to look, he realized that the man who had arrived was his friend Yoshiki.

"Well, I've got good news and bad news, Satoshi."

"Is the bad news that you haven't seen a bottle of hair dye in over a decade?" Yuka asked, a smirk on her face.

"Shut it about that. That joke was never funny." Yoshiki shot a look at Yuka, but she didn't flinch. Yoshiki sighed and turned back to Satoshi. "Listen, I'd really like to come with you, Satoshi..."

"But your wife won't let you." Satoshi finished for him, knowing the rest.

"Yeah. She's been real protective ever since her sister died on the surface. She doesn't want anyone in our family to be stalkers anymore." Yoshiki sighed and placed a pack on the table. "However, I was able to get you a few things. Food, ammo, spare filters, and so on."

"Thanks, Yoshiki." Satoshi grabbed the pack and smiled at his friend.

"I also asked around a bit about that shelter you need to find, the Perfect Life shelter." Yoshiki leaned on the table. "The problem is, most people think it's a fairy tale. We haven't heard from that shelter in a decade or more, so it can't be the beacon of hope the stories claim."

"I'm hearing a 'but' coming..." Yuka noted before taking a sip of her tea.

"Well, I met a guy while I was asking around. Traveller, probably a scavenger or a stalker for another shelter. He said he knows a way to the Perfect Life shelter, and he'd be willing to guide you there."

"How much?" Yuka asked without hesitation.

"He wouldn't say..." Yoshiki sighed. "Look, just ask for Yuuya Kizami. You'll need to talk to him yourself."

Satoshi patted Yoshiki on the shoulder. "You did what you could, Yoshiki. We'll go talk to this Kizami fellow."

Yoshiki nodded and stood up. He shook Satoshi's hand before leaving.

"Well, looks like we have a lead." Yuka noted as she stood up. "I'll take the spare gear Yoshiki gave us. I've got room in my backpack for it."

Satoshi slid the pack over to Yuka and stood up. "Let's find this Kizami guy before he leaves. If he's a traveller, he may not be here for long."

Yuka's eyes went wide as she looked at something behind Satoshi. He turned around to find himself face-to-face with a man, one with worn features and disheveled hair.

"Are you the Mochida siblings?"

Satoshi nodded slowly. "That'd be us. Are you... Yuuya Kizami?"

The man rubbed his chin for a moment before nodding. "That is correct. I heard you needed to reach the Perfect Life shelter."

"That's right." Yuka interjected from behind Satoshi, walking over to stand between the men. "You know how to get there?"

"Yes." Yuuya pulled out a worn map and laid it on the table. He began to point out and show paths along the map. "We're here. The Perfect Life shelter is over here. Ordinarily, people take a long way around this place in the middle, since the watchmen and demons attack from this spot. But there is a quicker way through this route."

Satoshi looked at the map and tried to visualize the places depicted. He was not a stalker or a scavenger, so his experience with the surface was limited. "What makes this route safe? It's close to where the watchmen have their lair."

Yuuya rolled up the map and put it away. While his coat was open, Satoshi noticed a large survival knife strapped to Yuuya's chest. "There are some ruined buildings that the mutants don't dare enter."

"Why not?" Yuka asked, shrugging.

"Because these buildings are haunted." Yuuya frowned and looked away.

"Ohhh..." Yuka nodded slowly, her voice oozing sarcasm. "That'd explain it."

"I'm not lying." Yuuya rubbed his forehead. "This place may not be home to mutants, but it is still dangerous. However, I am not affected by the ghosts in that place. I can guide you through it safely."

Satoshi nodded and checked his pocket for spare cartriges. "How much is it for passage both ways?"

"Keep your bullets." Yuuya waved Satoshi's hand away. "Save them for the mutants we'll surely encounter when we near the Perfect Life shelter. I have plenty of ammunition for my weapons."

Satoshi was surpised that Yuuya would refuse payment, but he reluctantly nodded and took his hand out of his pocket to shake Yuuya's hand. "Shall we be off, then?"

"Yes. We should leave now, so that we reach the ruin before dusk. You'll understand better when we reach the ruin." Yuuya pulled a gas mask from his pack and nodded to Satoshi.

"Well, off on the adventure, right?" Yuka quipped as she gulped down the rest of her tea.

Without another word, the three packed their things and left the safety of the shelter. Within minutes, they were under the glaring sun, the heat amplified by the radiation in the air. After making sure their gas masks were working and their weapons were loaded, they stepped out into the wasteland.


	2. Chapter 2

The group moved slowly through the ruined buildings, their weapons at the ready. Yuuya led the way, examining his surroundings with every few steps.

Yuka lifted her shotgun onto her shoulder and started picking at a corpse leaned against a door. "Looks like scavengers don't come here often. This poor bastard still has a few bullets on him."

"Few who enter these ruins return." Yuuya explained slowly. He turned to look at Yuka. "We should be more cautious, lest we share the fate of those lost here."

Satoshi was walking over to where Yuuya was standing when he suddenly felt his foot slip through a hole in the floorboards. However, when he righted himself and looked down, the floorboards looked perfectly safe.

"The spirits of the dead like to play tricks on the living." Yuuya noted. "Step where I step, or you may lose your way."

The three began to move through the old buildings. Yuuya stopped every few steps to check where the floor was safe to stand on. The wind blew through the gaps in the walls, creating an eerie whispering sound in the air.

While walking past an open door, Yuka saw something move out of the corner of her eye. She turned to see children playing with toys, giggling to each other.

"Kizami! There are others here!" Yuka pointed into the room, trying to get Yuuya's attention.

Yuuya replied without turning around. "Those children are not among the living. Do not approach them."

Confused, Yuka turned to look into the room again. This time, she saw little skeletons gathered around charred toys. The laughter continued.

"How much further?" Satoshi asked nervously, looking at his feet as if that would keep the floor from falling out from under him.

"We do not need to travel for much longer." Yuuya pointed at a staircase. "We'll take these stairs down to the ground floor. They were intact the last time I was here."

The group moved through the ruins carefully, eventually reaching the shattered entrance. Yuuya hefted his machine gun and pointed outside with it.

"The Perfect Life shelter is just over this hill outside, perhaps a hundred or so meters away. The entrance is gated, but it does not lock. We should be able to get inside without trouble." Yuuya looked at Satoshi. "Are you ready? The mutants may see us, so we must be ready for battle."

Satoshi nodded slowly. "As ready as I can be..."

Yuuya nodded and led the way into the wasteland, heading toward the hill. Satoshi and Yuka followed.

They had only run a few meters when the howls of watchmen were heard. Satoshi held up his gun and looked around. He saw a pack of the mutants charging right at them.

"From the left! Watch out!" Satoshi called out, firing a few shots into the pack.

Yuuya and Yuka turned as well, loosing a few shots at the watchmen as they ran up the hill. However, the horde did not seem to be fazed by the gunfire.

Upon reaching the top of the hill, the group was hit by the front of the pack. Satoshi had to fling a grenade out into the horde to distract them long enough to shoot the ones that had tried to jump him.

A watchman tried to sneak up from behind Yuka, but she heard it sniffing at the last second before it jumped and she spun around to face it. The watchman was flung back from the force of buckshot being blasted into its chest.

Yuuya seemed to have attracted the most attention, having several watchmen circling him at once. He was in the middle of shooting one when another slashed at his weapon, knocking it aside. Yuuya pulled out his survival knife and sliced open the watchman's throat in retaliation.

While holding off the watchmen, Satoshi looked down the hill to see the entrance to a shelter, a barred gate sealing it shut. "Let's hurry to the shelter! We can lock them out!"

Yuuya nodded and ran down the hill toward the shelter. Satoshi and Yuka followed, turning to shoot watchmen as they ran.

Just as Yuuya was reaching the gate, a shrill cry went through the air and the sound of flapping wings descended on the group. They all looked up just in time to see a demon swoop down and grab Yuuya off the ground.

"Kizami!" Yuka shouted, firing a few shots at the demon as it flew away. The demon cried out in pain and dropped Yuuya, who landed in a heap. Watchmen quickly ran over to Yuuya and began to claw at him.

"You go get Kizami, I'll open the gate!" Satoshi called out, putting down his gun so he could pull the gate with both hands.

Yuka ran over to where Yuuya had fallen and blasted a few watchmen off him. She grabbed Yuuya by the hand and dragged him to his feet, pulling him down to the shelter entrance.

Once everyone was behind the gate, Satoshi picked up his gun and fired a few warning shots into the watchmen pack while Yuka closed the gate. The watchmen growled from the other side of the gate, but quickly lost interest.

Satoshi and Yuka turned to Yuuya, who was sitting with his back to the wall. His gas mask was cracked and his was bleeding heavily, the red fluid already forming a pool under him.

Yuka sat next to Yuuya and pulled out her first-aid kit, but Yuuya placed his hand on Yuka's and shook his head.

"Save your shots. It's too late for me now." Yuuya let go of Yuka and opened up his coat to reveal terrible gashes that were pouring with blood.

"Oh my god..." Yuka shook her head. "That fucking demon!"

Yuuya pointed at his other hand, which seemed to be paralyzed. Satoshi looked to see that Yuuya held his bloody survival knife with that hand.

"Finish me off. I'd rather not wait to see if blood loss or suffocation gets me."

Satoshi felt sick from the sight of so much blood and what Yuuya was asking him to do. He was about to say something when he heard footsteps and saw a flashlight's glare on the wall. He spun around and held his gun up at the intruder. "Who's there?"

Standing in the darkness leading into the shelter was a woman with long, tangled black hair. She held up her hands to show that she was unarmed. "I am not your enemy."

Yuuya groaned and reached over to grab the knife from his paralyzed hand. He showed the knife to Yuka and handed it to her.

"Looks like you found a new guide. End it, alright?"

Yuka hesitated. Satoshi lowered his gun and looked at Yuuya. The woman with the flashlight walked closer and knelt next to Yuuya.

"Give me the knife. I know how to end his sufferring with the least pain."

Yuka reluctantly handed the woman Yuuya's knife. Yuuya nodded at the woman in gratitude before she slipped the knife through the gap in his chest. Despite the fact that Yuuya should have gasped in pain, he seemed almost peaceful when he closed his eyes.

"How the hell?..." Satoshi wondered aloud.

The woman stood up. "It is not something easily explained. It is best to simply accept that he died without any more pain." She turned to face Satoshi and Yuka. "Who might you be, and why have you come here?"

Yuka stood up and put away her first-aid kit. "We're Yuka and Satoshi Mochida, from the Tenjin shelter. We're here to find help stopping a mutant that's been giving us trouble."

"Help?..." The woman shook her head slowly. "Walk with me. We should stay in the shelter to save filters."

Satoshi and Yuka gave one last look at Yuuya's body before following the woman into the shelter. After they had removed their masks and turned on their flashlights, the woman began to speak again.

"My name is Aiko Niwa. But I'd appreciate it if you simply called me Aiko. Formalities are pointless in a place like this." She was quiet for a moment, then continued. "Are you here looking for the Perfect Life shelter?"

"Yeah." Satoshi pulled out his notepad. "We were told to come here to find help stopping a mutant we call 'the black-eyed girl'."

Aiko frowned and sighed. "I'm afraid you are a decade too late. The Perfect Life shelter began falling apart as soon as its first leader died over twelve years ago. I am the only survivor."

"What? What happened?" Yuka shook her head in disbelief.

"With the death of the leader, the inhabitents of the Perfect Life shelter were discouraged." Aiko crossed her arms. "Some continued to assist nearby shelters, but many of them died doing so. The rest simply left to find safer shelters once the scavengers started to dwindle." Aiko frowned at Satoshi. "I'm afraid you will find no help here."

Satoshi shook his head. "That can't be true. There has to be something..."

Aiko sighed and motioned for Satoshi and Yuka to follow. She led them through the passages of the shelter as she talked.

"There may be something useful to you in the old leader's quarters. She was what one may call... a genius, I suppose." Aiko sounded a bit bitter as she pronounced the description. "I'm sure that, had she not died all those years ago, we'd already be back on the surface by now." Aiko looked over her shoulder at the two. "But enough of that. Explain to me what this black-eyed girl is."

Yuka tapped her holstered shotgun nervously. "We call it the black-eyed girl because it looks kind of like a little girl in a black dress. But its skin is partially transparent, it has these pointed ears, and its eyes are entirely black."

"It wouldn't ordinarily be a problem, but we can't seem to kill it." Satoshi added. "We'd just leave it alone, but it keeps finding our scavengers and stalkers while they're out alone. The ones the black-eyed girl catches alone go insane, becoming almost childlike."

Aiko nodded slowly. "But it does not attack groups?"

"Not yet." Yuka noted. "But soon it won't matter, if we keep losing good people to that thing."

Stopping at a door with a nameplate on the front, Aiko nodded. "I see. Then I hope you find something useful in this room."

Satoshi looked at the faded marks on the nameplate and read the name "Kuon Niwa".

"Was the leader..." Satoshi began, not sure if he should continue. "...your mother?"

Aiko shook her head. "My sister. But it hardly matters now. Let us see if we have something that can kill your black-eyed girl."

Opening the door and walking in with a single motion, Aiko waved Yuka and Satoshi in. The three began exploring the room, which had clearly been ransacked at some point in the years since Kuon's death.

They searched the room for a long time, and Satoshi was about to give up hope of finding anything useful. But then he found a strange-looking knife tucked into a corner and showed it to Aiko.

"This knife is chemically and spiritually treated to sever the link supernatural powers have over some mutants." Aiko handed the knife back to Satoshi. "If this black-eyed girl of yours has psychic powers, this will end her life in a single strike."

"Just what we're looking for!" Yuka sighed with relief, throwing a box of bullet casings aside. "We'll finally be able to stop that monster from hurting our people!"

Satoshi nodded and turned to Aiko. "What will you do now, Aiko? Would you like to join us? There's room at Tenjin shelter."

Aiko looked around the room with what may have been a sorrowful expression. "I suppose there is no harm in joining you. This place brings back painful memories. I will not miss it." Aiko nodded. "Let's go."

After putting his combat knife into his pack and strapping the special knife to his belt, Satoshi led the others to the shelter entrance. They prepared their gas masks and readied themselves for the journey home.


	3. Chapter 3

The journey back to Tenjin shelter was easier than Satoshi and Yuka had expected. After leaving the remains of the Perfect Life shelter, they made their way back to the haunted ruins. Aiko knew the path through the ruins just as Yuuya did, making Satoshi wonder if the two had met before.

It had only been a week since Satoshi had left his home shelter by the time they reached the final stretch of wasteland, but it felt like he had been gone for much longer. When the group stopped to set up camp in a ruined building to wait out the night, Satoshi almost wished they could just risk the mutants to hurry back home.

Yuka left the camp to explore the rest of the building for supplies to bring back home, leaving Satoshi and Aiko sitting across from each other in the dim light of their lamp. Satoshi took out the special knife that would kill the black-eyed girl and looked it over.

"I hope this works." Satoshi tapped the knife on the floor a few times.

Looking up to gauge Aiko's reaction, Satoshi noticed that she was staring into the light of the lamp. He waved his hand in front of her a few times to get her attention, wondering if something was wrong.

"Are you okay, Aiko?"

Aiko looked up at Satoshi for a moment. Then she lowered her head and closed her eyes. "The air is thick. I sense that something terrible will happen soon. Something that might change our fates..." Aiko opened her eyes and looked at Satoshi again. "Or at least yours."

Satoshi didn't want to pick apart such a cryptic statement, so he remained silent. Aiko went back to staring at the lamp when she realized he was not going to respond.

Satoshi was getting ready to get a bit of sleep when Yuka returned, though he immediately sensed that something was wrong. Yuka didn't have her backpack or her shotgun with her, and she seemed to be stumbling with every step.

"Yuka!" Satoshi got up and ran over to her. "Are you hurt?"

Yuka looked up at Satoshi. He gasped when he saw the black eyes staring back at him.

Stepping back in surprise and fear, Satoshi nearly tripped over his bedroll. Aiko stood up and looked at Yuka, frowning.

"I suspected as much..." Aiko sighed and held up her hands to Yuka to show that there was nothing in them. "You are the one they call the black-eyed girl, aren't you?"

Yuka frowned and looked at Satoshi. "Is that what they call Sachi?"

Satoshi looked at Aiko with surprise and pointed at Yuka. "Are you saying?..."

"The black-eyed girl can invade the minds of others, as you saw yourself." Aiko turned to face Yuka. "But I suspect that only now has she been able to communicate through someone."

"Sachi just wants to talk to people." Yuka's hands clasped each other over her chest. "Sachi is so lonely, and she doesn't know what it feels like to be 'human' like everyone else."

"Is she... talking about herself in the third person?" Satoshi asked Aiko hesitantly, remembering the knife and trying to think of how to reach it.

"It appears that way." Aiko rubbed her chin. "Kuon once dealt with someone like this... a mutant with a human soul. I believe she determined that it was an unborn child given a physical form." Aiko frowned and shook her head. "So this Sachi is, essentially, a living ghost."

Yuka turned to look at Satoshi, and he froze as he was reaching for the knife. How was he going to kill Sachi without hurting Yuka?

"Sachi doesn't know what any of this means. She just wants to stay like she is right now..."

Satoshi thought for a moment. The black-eyed girl... Sachi... could usually only infect people by being in close proximity with them. So that meant that Sachi was in the building with them. If he could find her and stab her with the knife, he could free Yuka.

Feeling eyes on him, Satoshi looked up to see Aiko and "Yuka" looking at him expectantly. Remembering his mission, he steeled himself for what he'd have to do.

"Aiko, would you sit here with... Sachi... for a minute? I'll be right back."

Aiko nodded slowly. Satoshi suspected that she knew what his plan was, but she didn't question him.

"Yuka" moved into a sitting position across from Aiko, who sat down as well. Satoshi hurried out of the room and drew the knife, looking down the hallways for any sign of Yuka's backpack or another clue as to where the black-eyed girl's real body was.

It didn't take long to find Yuka's backpack and shotgun. Satoshi looked around the room and found the black-eyed girl sitting in a corner, her eyes closed. Satoshi approached her and knelt in front of her, the knife in his hand.

For a moment, Satoshi hesitated. With her eyes closed, the black-eyed girl looked almost human. Deformed and sick for a human, but those traits didn't make real humans less worthy of being considered such.

Satoshi tried to reconcile the girl speaking through Yuka's body, this "Sachi", with the black-eyed girl that was destroying his shelter from the inside. He felt sick inside, but he noted that Sachi's inhuman mindset made it impossible to reason with her. Sachi wanted a human host, which meant she couldn't be human on her own.

With this as his justification, Satoshi raised the knife. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes so he wouldn't see the black-eyed girl's calm face. Then he struck down with the knife, ripping a hole in the mutant's chest and letting its blood flow. Feeling the blood on his fingers, Satoshi knew the knife had done its job. No other weapon had even scratched the mutant before.

Satoshi left the knife in the black-eyed girl's body and stood up. He didn't open his eyes until he had turned around. After taking another breath, he collected Yuka's gear and headed back to the camp.

When Satoshi got there, Yuka was clutching her head, kneeling on the floor. Satoshi dropped her gear on a bedroll and rushed to her side.

"Yuka! Yuka, are you alright?!"

Yuka swatted his arm away and spun to look up at him. Her glare was her own when she looked into his eyes.

"Why did you kill her?! She was barely a child! She just wanted to know what it felt like to live!"

Satoshi stepped back, surprised at the outburst. Yuka had gladly agreed to join the mission to kill the black-eyed girl. Why had she suddenly changed her mind? It couldn't be the mutant's doing: it was dead now.

"No wonder you haven't had any kids! You'd just beat them for crying!" Yuka pointed a finger at Satoshi and growled at him. "All these months we've been hating Sachi over a misunderstanding! If we had just taken the time to talk to her, we could have brought her in as one of our own!"

"B-but..." Satoshi backed away. "The black-eyed girl destroyed the minds of the people she attacked! We have a dozen people who are little better than infants now because of her!"

"She had a name!" Yuka seethed. "She was human once. She's not like the watchmen or nosalises. We hunted her because we thought she was a monster. Why didn't you realize we were mistaken when she talked to you?"

Satoshi bit his lip. He looked over to Aiko. "Aiko, there must have been a reason your sister made a knife to kill mutants like the black-eyed girl. They must be too dangerous to leave alive... or something!"

Frowning, Aiko took a seat on her bedroll. "I'm afraid I don't know the reason Kuon made that knife. Even if I did, the choice of how to use it rested with you."

Yuka brushed past Satoshi, glaring at him. "Trying to shift blame on others, Satoshi? Naomi was right after all: you are a coward." Yuka shook her head and moved to leave the room. "I'm bringing Sachi's body back with us to Tenjin shelter. She deserves no less than what we'd do for our own dead."

Satoshi watched his sister leave the room, remaining silent. He looked to Aiko for her reaction, but she seemed to be looking into the distance.

Suddenly, Aiko spoke, still looking away from Satoshi. "It appears your fate has been decided."

Angry at Aiko's apparent calmness through this whole situation, Satoshi walked over to Aiko and lifted her by the shoulders. He raised a hand to punch her in the face and wipe that apathetic look away. But Aiko didn't flinch even for a moment. After a few breaths, Satoshi let go of Aiko without hitting her.

Suddenly wanting to slam his head into a wall, break something, or shoot something, Satoshi stormed over to his bedroll. He laid down and closed his eyes, praying that the past few months had been one long nightmare.

* * *

><p>After returning to Tenjin shelter, Satoshi returned to his old life. He became much more withdrawn, which was quickly noticed by his wife and friends. Even Yoshiki felt like Satoshi had become more distant during his visits. When asked about how he stopped the black-eyed girl, Satoshi would only give a brief answer before looking into the distance, as if trying to see a world that can no longer exist.<p>

Aiko joined the community at Tenjin shelter, having nowhere else to go. While her life before arriving at Tenjin remained mysterious, she quickly made friends in her new home. Few learned that she was once a citizen of the Perfect Life shelter.

Yuka brought Sachi's remains to Tenjin shelter, passing her off as a child found dead on the surface wasteland. After Sachi's funeral, Yuka became a stalker, leaving her family under the care of her husband. While she was reluctant to share stories of her mission to save Tenjin shelter, she would often tell the story of a misjudged mutant with a human soul. While scouring the surface for supplies to collect and monster lairs to destroy, Yuka never stopped looking for other lost souls like Sachi.


End file.
